1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal cell assembly to manufacture liquid crystal cells, and a liquid crystal cell manufacturing method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal cell used in a liquid crystal display apparatus includes first and second substrates which oppose each other via a gap and are bonded to each other through a frame-like seal member which surrounds a screen area with a predetermined area. Of the opposing inner surfaces of the first and second substrates, the inner surface of the first substrate is provided with first electrodes to correspond to the screen area. The inner surface of the second substrate is provided with at least one second electrode which forms pixels in a region opposing the first electrodes. A terminal array portion is formed on part of the peripheral portion of the first substrate to extend outwardly from the second substrate. The terminal array portion is provided with terminals electrically connecting to the first and second electrodes respectively.
The liquid crystal cell is manufactured by a method of assembling a liquid crystal cell assembly including arrayed liquid crystal cells and separating the liquid crystal cell assembly into liquid crystal cells. This manufacturing method manufactures liquid crystal cells at once (see Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-19536).
According to this manufacturing method, the first and second substrate members bonded to each other through frame-like seal members, thus assembling the liquid crystal cell assembly. The first substrate member includes arrayed first substrate regions. The second substrate member includes second substrate regions arrayed to correspond to the first substrate regions. Each of the first and second substrate members has an area that can provide liquid crystal cell substrates. The frame-like seal members surround a screen area in units of substrate regions.
The bonded body of the first and second substrate members is cut apart along segmentation lines of the first and second substrate regions. This separates the liquid crystal cell assembly into the liquid crystal cells.
In the conventional liquid crystal cell manufacturing method, the first substrate member is defined into the first substrate regions each of which has a shape larger than the outer shape of the corresponding frame-like seal member that surround the screen area. The second substrate member is defined into the second substrate regions the entire shape of each of which is larger than the outer shape of the corresponding frame-like seal member. Hence, each of the first and second substrates can provide only a small number of substrates, leading to poor productivity of liquid crystal cells.